Parallels Among Pension Problems

I hope everyone out there who cares about orchestras is taking the time to follow the airline industry pension crisis.  It’s been captivating to follow the recent round of Senate Finance Committee hearings which are attempting to gather information so Congress can determine how it should update pension-funding rules. In a nutshell, the problem is some of the largest corporations in the country don’t have enough money in their defined benefit …

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Taking The Spin Out On Tour

In an apparent effort to gear up for their upcoming Washington D.C. conference, the American Symphony Orchestra League has been pounding the pavement and beating up the PR drums in efforts to paint a pleasant picture on the current state of the American orchestra business. Not that this sort of behavior is a bad thing for them to do, after all, they are a service organization representing orchestra managers and board …

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TAFTO Reader Response: Follow Up

Toward the end of last May’s Take Your Friend to Orchestra month initiative, composer Judd Greenstein wrote in to say he was taking 40 friends to an upcoming concert featuring some he composed for the New York Youth Symphony.  True to his word, Judd sent in the following account, As planned, I brought a large group of friends and family with me to the May 29 New York Youth Symphony concert …

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The Business Of Youth Orchestras

Given how much youth orchestras have expanded in recent years you would think that the demand for classical music is going up.  Unfortunately, that’s not precisely the case in most cities; nevertheless, youth orchestras are becoming a big business.  The biggest budget youth orchestras have budgets larger than a quarter of all ROPA ensembles and they attract managers from big budget orchestras.  And why not?  Those top ensembles pay more than …

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Open Discussion Or Propaganda Laden Drivel

Just a quick pointer to another good piece from Arts journal blog neighbor Andrew Taylor.  Andrew touches on a subject discussed here at the end of last April about how arts organizations will need to allow a freely moderated discussion between itself and patrons if it hopes to take full advantage of emerging technologies such as weblogs. That simple concept is really at the heart of so much which needs to …

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